Chennai, Oct 6 (PTI) Polling was brisk on Tuesday for the byelections to two Assembly Constituencies in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry that are being seen as a test of popularity for the incumbent coalition governments headed by the TVK and AINRC, respectively.
Officials said people turned up in good numbers to exercise their franchise.
In Tamil Nadu, Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly Constituencies, both SC reserved segments, registered a turnout of 70.31 and 68.08 per cent, respectively at 3 pm, according to election authorities.
The Thattanchavady segment in Puducherry recorded a turnout of 68.91 per cent at 3 pm.
The high-stakes bypolls in Tamil Nadu, which will have a bearing on not only the incumbent TVK regime, is also crucial for both the main opposition DMK, and the AIADMK, which had been relegated to the third spot in the April Assembly election.
In Puducherry, the bypoll is seen as a test of popularity for the four month-old NDA government led by Chief Minister N Rangasamy, whose resignation from Thattancvahady necessitated the electoral exercise.
No major untoward incidents were reported and officials swiftly addressed some minor technical glitches in EVM-VVPAT equipment at a few booths.
Polling began at 7 am and it is scheduled to continue until 6 pm.
An election official said the polling stations in both constituencies have been witnessing a steady footfall of voters across various age profiles since morning.
As of 3 pm, in Madurantakam, out of the total 2,13,788 voters (Men, 1,04,926, Women 1,08,797 and Third gender 65), 70.31 per cent of them had cast their votes.
Over 3,000 personnel drawn from both state and Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed for security in Madurantakam, which has 285 polling booths.
In Madurantakam, 27 candidates are trying their luck and the key nominees are ruling TVK’s K Maragatham Kumaravel, DMK’s I Paranthamen, AIADMK’s Kanitha Sampath, CPI (M)’s P Suganthi, and NTK’s Janakiraman.
Speaking to reporters, the Left candidate P Suganthi said youth participation was noticeably lower compared to the general elections held four months ago.
After exercising her franchise and visiting a few polling stations in her constituency, TVK’s Kumaravel claimed she maintained a strong, personal connection with the local people, viewing them as a family.
Her rival DMK candidate Paranthaman claimed that he could see “visibly happy faces” of the voters who have decided to usher in a change this time in favour of the opposition party.
As regards Dharapuram, P Sathyabama (TVK), S Suganya (DMK), K Bhanumathi (AIADMK), P Lakshmanan (CPI) and M Karthika (NTK) are the key contestants out of the total 22 nominees contesting in the bypoll.
Dharapuram’s electorate comprises 2,23,306 voters and of them, men are 1,07,285, women 1,16,013 and 8 are third gender. In Dharapuram too over 3,000 police personnel are on duty and there are 320 polling stations.
The bypolls are the Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led minority TVK regime’s first electoral litmus test after it formed the government in May.
The byelections are crucial for the main opposition DMK too as this is the first time the MK Stalin-led party is facing polls, after a long time, without the backing of erstwhile allies including the Congress.
TVK formed its first government with the support of Congress, VCK, and IUML in addition to outside backing from the Left parties, which have now turned critical of the actor-turned politician led government on several issues.
The Left Front, which neither joined the TVK-led alliance nor the government, has fielded candidates for bypolls.
As regards the AIADMK, which ruled Tamil Nadu for over three decades is under immense pressure to make an electoral comeback.
Horse-trading and betrayal allegations turned out to be key campaign themes of the Opposition, be it the AIADMK, DMK or the Left parties, as Kumaravel and Sathyabama quit the iconic MG Ramachandran founded party and their MLAs posts and joined the TVK.
A win will prove the mandate for the ruling party’s leadership, while a loss may be indicate otherwise.
At the Thandarai polling booth in Madurantakam, voting experienced a brief pause after DMK’s agents protested alleging indelible ink marks on the EVM button next to the TVK candidate’s “Whistle” symbol.
Election officers quickly inspected the machine, cleared the issue, and resumed polling.
In the Vilvarayanallur polling station (Madurantakam), DMK cadres accused local police of allowing ruling TVK party workers to stand closer to the booth entrance than the distance strictly permitted under the Election Commission Model Code of Conduct.
A few polling stations experienced standard mock-poll delays early in the morning due to minor VVPAT or EVM connection glitches, but these were cleared by standby engineers before official voting gained full momentum.
Despite the isolated and brief interruptions, voter turnout surged dramatically as the day progressed, indicating a strong midday participation.
The election officials noted slightly heavier queues in urban polling stations within Dharapuram town compared to smaller rural areas.
Long queues of women voters were the defining visual trends outside polling stations in both the rural and semi-urban pockets in the two constituencies.
As the heat intensified in the afternoon, the pace of polling slowed to an extent and it picked up later.
In Puducherry’s Thattanchavady, although a total of 11 candidates are in the fray, the battle is being seen as a 3-cornered one between ruling AINRC-led NDA, the Congress and its former ally DMK. PTI JSP COR VGN SA SA KH
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